The iPad mini has become so popular in the United States, home country of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), that Lenovo has stopped selling its two smallest, 8 inch tablets in the country entirely. According to PC World, the company is ceasing sales of the Thinkpad 8 and the Miix 2 with 8 inch screen, both of which use the Windows operating system, in the U.S.A.. Other, larger Windows based tablets from the company, including a larger screen version of the Miix 2, will continue to be offered for sale in America.
The Thinkpad 8 and smaller Miix 2 are not being discontinued overall, since robust demand still exists for these devices in less affluent nations such as Brazil and China, according to Lenovo. Curiously enough, demand is also high in Japan, which is easily the U.S.’s match for standard of living, income, and general availability of technology. This may illustrate a general preference for the Windows platform among Japanese tablet users.
Lenovo claims that the Thinkpad 8 will eventually stage a return to American store shelves, but this is likely to prove to be a headache for the company if it is actually attempted. Assuming that the declaration is anything more than a face-saving move with no substance, the Thinkpad 8 is likely to be ground between the upper and nether millstones of iOS and Android tablets if it attempts to penetrate the U.S. market again.
Apple’s iPad Mini has a solid position of dominance in the higher end miniature tablet market in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” On the other hand, Nexus tablets running the Android OS undercut the Thinkpad’s prices sharply, often selling for 50% of a Thinkpad’s cost, or even less. With the iPad Mini riding high at the upper end of the register, and good quality Android tablets offering immense savings with little loss of power, the Lenovo Thinkpad 8 has apparently been squeezed out of the U.S. market for good unless it undergoes a truly massive overhaul.